Delbene: Reichert won’t debate me

Rep. Dave Reichert’s campaign has repeatedly called on Democratic challenger Suzan DelBene to tak about the issues. However the Republican incumbent apparently may not be discussing those issues with DelBene.

DelBene’s campaign said Tuesday that Reichert, who had a sizable lead coming out of the August primary, had declined its request for debates.

Speaking to The (Tacoma) News Tribune, Reichert’s spokesman Darrel Little said the DelBene campaign “waited to request anything until very late and Congressman Reichert’s schedule had already filled up.”

The DelBene campaign said it requested debates Sept. 9 and that Reichert is only scheduled to be in Washington, D.C. six days in September and five days in October.

“So there you have it: No debates. Reichert’s schedule is full, and he has no time explain his record to voters. ,” DelBene spokesman Scott Whiteaker said in a statement.

But Little told seattlepi.com that they’re trying to arrange meetings between Reichert and DelBene, but there are no guarantees.

“It is true that Dave’s schedule is very full, but…we’re continually working to rearrange things to accommodate a lot of different requests.”

As for debates? “We’re not ruling it out, we’re just trying to rearrange things to make it work.”